How to Make Tissue Paper Pom Pom Flowers

Tissue paper poms are my absolute favorite party decoration. They are cheap and big and make a lot of impact. Unlike helium balloons, these can be made weeks ahead of time. I thought everyone knew how to make tissue paper poms but I’ve had person after person ask me how to make them so I figured a tutorial is in order. The poms I’m making are with paper that is 20″ wide. Once the edges have been trimmed and they’re fluffed up, they’re about 16 inches wide. These are frightfully easy. Like, elementary school easy.

The first and most important thing you need is tissue paper. I buy mine in bulk fromNashville Wraps. They have every color imaginable and it’s really fantastic quality at a good price. But most people don’t want to go to that much trouble. You can use any tissue paper you like but keep in mind that most tissue paper is pretty chintzy, flimsy and small. You’ll need more sheets of the cheap stuff to achieve the same look. Just how much? The tissue from Nashville Wraps is 20″x30″. Since those are pretty big, thick sheets you’ll need less. I can get away with 9-10 sheets per pom. The average tissue paper you can buy at the store (say a 99¢ pack of eight sheets from Party City) is smaller (20×24″) and thinner. So you’ll need about 12 sheets to get the same effect. You don’t have to use that much, but if you don’t your poms will look a little anemic and lackluster. If it’s a party full of screaming 4-year olds then maybe you don’t care so much. But if it’s for a wedding or a party where there will be actual people who will notice, you might want to splurge. It averages out to about 1.5 packs per pom. Honestly it’s not going to break the bank.

You’ll also need floral wire (I use 26 gauge but pretty much any thin wire will do), clear fishing line and clear push pins.

Your first step will be to lay the tissue paper out with the corners nice and even. Lay the paper out so it’s portrait style (not landscape), meaning the long edges are on the sides and the short edge is nearest to you. You’re going to make accordion folds starting at the side closest to you and as you make each fold the paper will get shorter, not narrower.

First fold the paper one way, then flip the whole stack over and fold the other way. I’m sure everyone knows how to do this. If you don’t, well, maybe throwing a party is not your biggest concern. The important thing is to make the folds about 1.5-2 inches wide. Not any wider than this. Trust me, OK?

If you get to the end and there’s not quite enough to make another complete fold, just bend it underneath anyway. It will look fine. When you’re done, you’ll have an accordion-ish thing like this. If your original paper measured 20″ x 30″, you will have a fat strip that is about 2″ x 20″.

Once it’s folded you’ll trim both sides. I prefer cutting mine to a point but you can also cut the edges so that they’re rounded. Rounded edges look a little more flowery and feminine. Points are a bit more dramatic. The tissue will probably be too thick to cut all at once so just cut a few sheets at a time. There is no need to be all perfect and OCD about this. Once the poms are fluffed up and hanging from the ceiling nobody will notice any details.

Now grab a floral wire. You don’t need the wires to be super long, so I usually cut mine in half so they’re 9-10″. Bend the piece of wire in half.

Slide the wire onto your folded tissue paper right in the center.

Now twist the edges of the wire together. You don’t want to make the wire too snug around the paper. It should be a bit loose; the puffball will be easier to fluff that way.

Now you’ll bend the wire over to make a loop. Take the loose ends and wrap them around the bottom to secure the loop. You’ll be hanging the pom from this.

The easiest time to attach the fishing line for hanging is while the pom is still folded up. So take a piece of fishing line that’s about 10′ long and put it through the wire loop. Unless your ceilings are outrageously high, this will be plenty long. Better to cut the line too long than not long enough.

Once the fishing line is through the loop, hold both ends together and tie them in a knot. This will keep the line from squiggling out at some point. Finding the wire loop again is a total pain once your pom is fluffed up, so make sure it’s a nice tight knot.

Now it’s fluffing time! Just a reminder that tissue paper is incredibly easy to rip. No duh, right? But I guarantee that at some point you will tear the paper. Just take it slow and easy. Start by gently lifting the top sheet of paper away from the others.

The first piece or two should go straight up. The easiest way to do this without ripping the paper is to put your pointy and middle fingers on each side of a fold. Slide them along the fold from the outside of the pom towards the middle.

Do this with about four layers of paper on both sides of the loop.

Then flip the pom over and repeat until the whole thing is a big fluffy ball. Puff it up until it looks full and gorgeous.

When you’re ready to hang your poms, it’s as simple as dragging a ladder around and sticking pushpins in the ceiling. I usually stick the pushpin in the ceiling and then tie the fishing line on. It’s ever so helpful to have someone on the ground telling you if the poms are hanging at the right height. There actually is no “right height”. If they’re too low, you’re merely inviting all small children to try to jump up and hit them. I think about about 7 feet off the ground is nice so that tall fellows don’t get bopped in the head.

Tie the fishing line from each pom onto the pushpins and you’re all set. I bet you’ll be so thrilled you’ll consider leaving the poms up long after the party has ended.

*The colors I used here are Lime Green (Citrus Green is almost identical, by the way. I tried them both), Turquoise and Oxford Blue. Oxford Blue is a pale turquoise (think Tiffany Blue) all from Nashville Wraps in the 24 sheet fold mini-pack.

Good tip about the pushpins. I still have masking tape residue on my dining room ceiling because we didn’t properly remove it right away–and it also didn’t hold the pompoms up; they kept falling down during the party.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!11 I have never seen these before. Seriously, they have just never arrived this side of the Atlantic. I’ll be sing them for decorations at a pre wedding party I am hosting for my best friend’s daughter in 10 days. I had been thinking about making lots of bunting, which is the in thing over here but the sewingmachine and I have never been happy together. Many thanks again.

This are amazing and so simple! Thank you, thank you so much for your clear step by step on how to make these. I am a new teacher this fall and I am decorating my room and everything is sooooo expensive and I have been looking for a way to creat exactly this for my “birds nest” to go with my theme and the best way I found was spending $75 on large Styrofoam balls and I have not even bought the flower petals that are $10/box…until now! This is going to save a TON of money and look so much better! Thank you, thank you!!!!

I hope your poms turn out great! Good luck in your new career. Hats off to anyone who can teach for a living; I’d last for about three hours! Send me some pics of your classroom when it’s all finished!

This is by far the BEST tissue paper pom tutorial I have seen…I’m planning on making a ton of these to decorate my daughters my little pony birthday next month and I already know they’re going to look FANTASTIC!
Thanks so much!

I am doing the tissue pom poms for my 18 year old daughter’s birthday party. By me having so much to do for the preparation of the party I had a question. Can I spread the pom poms and store them in my storage room area in a hefty trash bag to help me out a bit? Or will they loose their fullness? Please HELP!!!

I’ve made them a month ahead of time before and they looked fine. The bottoms were a tiny bit flat but after hanging up for a while they looked great. I would suggest finding someplace where you can just leave them sitting out, though. Putting them in garbage bags will probably smoosh them even more. But if you think people will mess around with them or if space is tight, maybe just get them all cut and ready until a few days before and then fluff them up. Don’t wait until you’re in a big hurry, though. You’ll be a lot more likely to rip them.
It took about an hour and a half to hang up about 18 poms (have to drag the ladder around and it takes a while).

Thank you for a well tutorial!!! I so love these and your color choice. Your tutorial has inspired me to make some poms poms for my sister’s baby shower (Boy) in November. Its’s funny because your pom colors are the exact colors we are considering for the shower. I’ve looked on nashville wraps but can’t figure out which one you used in the above photos in terms of colors , size, fold, flat,etc. Is it turquoise, or caribbean teal and is it citrus green, bright lime , oasis green or grovy green. Your respond is greatly appreciated.

Those colors are confusing aren’t they? I ordered bright lime and citrus because I couldn’t really tell on my monitor. When they arrived they were almost identical. I would say citrus is just a smidge yellower. But they’re both pretty much lime green. I also got turquoise and Oxford blue. I wanted to have a little variety in the blues. Oxford is like a pale turquoise (think Tiffany blue).

I got the 20×30 packs of 24 sheets each. If you figure you need about 8-10 sheets per ball then you can decide how many packs you need. Hope that helps! Good luck with the shower.

Ok it seems very easy and I have followed step by step but after I have fluffed up it does not looke the same as your….. Help what am I doing wrong?? I’m planning a baby shower and want to use them as decorations for the shower.

I am the least-crafty person you will ever meet. However, I’m planning my daughter’s first birthday party, and I really want to make these poms. I have all of my supplies ready, but the first one I made looked more like a fluffy wheel than a fluffy pom. When I first lay the tissue paper out, should it be laid like land-scape (wide) or portrait (tall)? Thank you so much for making this tutorial.

Lori. You’re going to fold it so that it’s going to be shorter and fatter, not skinnier and longer. Say that your tissue paper is 20″x30″. You’re going to fold it in 2″ increments so that means you.ll have 15 2″ increments. Does that explain it?

Make sure you put the wore around the tissue loosely; it will fluff up fuller that way. Make sure that the first few sheets you fluff up go straight up. This will make the ball look rounder.

What a great tutorial!!!!! We are making lots of pompoms for a wedding!!! BIG to very small!!! What’s the best way of hanging up more than one pom pom on the same thread??? Could this be a disaster????!!!!

I think that would look great. My suggestion on how to do this (not that I’ve tried it; just my thoughts): when you put the wire around the folded tissue paper, twist a loop onto both sides (one on top, one on bottom). That way you could tie fishing line onto both sides easily. Good luck!

I love this idea but I saw a picture online of some mini pom poms that were made to look like flowers in a pot. They also were flattened on the front side and a picture was placed in the center of the flower. I hope I am explaining this right. My question is how would you seperate the tissue to make it flat in the front? I have posted the link to the pic I found below. Please let me know what you think.

I would assume that these are made exactly like regular poms but maybe using half as much tissue. When you fluff them up, only fluff them towards the back so the front stays flat. That would be my guess but I could be totally wrong. I would suggest getting some tissue paper and playing around with it. It can’t be that hard. Good luck!

Just finished making these and they look amazing!!! Took me two tries before reading into the comments of what I was doing wrong, turns out I was simply folding the paper the wrong way but now that I got it they look fabulous!!! Thanks for this awesome tutorial.

Just made my first tissue paper poof ball using this tutorial! It was a trial run for my wedding reception. Ordered the paper from Nashville Wraps and it worked perfectly! Lots more poof ball making in my future. Thanks for this awesome tutorial!

I love your pom poms, but I would like to make smaller ones that looks like flowers and have green on the bottom. Can you tell me what size my tissue paper should be if I want the finished flower to be about 13″ wide and 6″ high, and also how to have the bottom layer be a different color? Thank you.

Hilde, what a fabulous tutorial. I stumbled upon your site from another blog showing your tissue pompoms, can’t even remember which one it was.

Your instructions were fantastic and Nashville Wraps was awesome, thank you! I made about 150 of these in three different colours; turquoise, aqua and grey (their class colours) to decorate the school gym for my daughter’s 8th grade graduation reception.

I don’t know how to include a photo for you here, but thanks to you it looked absolutely amazing! It certainly gave such a huge room that extra “wow element” everyone simply loved it!

Hi! I wanted to let you know that your blog saved me!! I have been making pom pons this week for my daughter’s 8th grade graduation dance. I purchased white tissue paper that was 26 x 20..which worked perfectly! I also purchased black and red tissue but the size for these colors was 20 x 20. The pom poms I made out of the 20 x 20 tissue looked really awful. So, I read all of the comments here and noticed one about tissue paper size. So, I cut the square 20 x 20 tissue proportionately back to a similar ratio of the 26 x 20 tissue that has been working great. I cut about 5 ” off…making the paper size 20 x 15 and it worked perfectly! Thank you so much for all this great information!

see one thanks so much for a detailed description on how to make tissue paper flowers. I had a I got to one in person while out last night at a friends for supper and got a good look at one already made, well, she says: oh! it’s so easy. I would to make a small carnation size to try this. you had the measurement of 6×10 looks weird when I cut out my cardboard for a template. how would I size it down small for a sample test. hoping you can help me out, tissue paper is ready to start. thanks so much for your tutorial and I’m waiting for your input to get mine started. everything is ready to go.

Hey Hilde – I’m trying to make these for Christmas and my sister’s shower and there is no circular shape to the one I’m doing. You can definitely tell where the “middle” is on each side. It looks more like a giant bowtie than a ball. Any advice?

When that happens it’s usually because the layers of tissue aren’t being fluffed all the way to the middle. Make sure each layer of tissue is being bent straight up from the middle. By the time they’re fluffed up completely they should look more ball shaped. Also make sure you’re using enough paper. The more layers of tissue, the better. Hope this helps! Good luck!

I love these pom poms and have already tried a few, I tried curved and spiky( I like spiky better ) I even cut some with a v point facing in like when you cut ribbon, I think this is my favorite. I have a slight problem though, when I flip it over to do the other side I have trouble getting the paper to fold up to the middle. It doesn, t want to go up all the way and leaves a big circle and sometimes rips. Should I make my wire looser?

Michelle, it’s hard to say whether loosening the wire might help. I like to make the wire kind of loose. A lot of times there are problems when you don’t get close enough to the wire when you bend up the tissue paper. That can make a difference too.

I ordered tissue paper in reams. The reams are gently folded, all sheets at once so there’s no crease. As far as I can tell, the packs feature individually folded pieces. Although you can’t really tell once the poms are made, I think it’s easier to work with tissue paper that hasn’t been folded a whole bunch. Good luck!

These tissue pompoms are so beautiful. I’m planning to make these for my graduation party, but I’m having a difficult time to figure out the right shade of blue that I need. Is the color of the tissue paper you used for demonstration (above) is the oxford blue or turquoise?? thanks!!

Relaine, I made poms in the demo out of the Aqua color from Nashville Wraps (the item # is CTQAQ). But I also did a few poms in Turquoise so everything wasn’t the exact same shade. Aqua is paler than turquoise and is almost a Tiffany or Robin’s Egg blue. The green color I used is Bright Lime. Good luck with your party and congratulations on graduating! My daughter is graduating this year too!

Thank you so much for your help!! I got the oxford blue and it matches the shade of blue that I want. I bought the 20×26 tissue paper instead because unfortunately the 20×30 doesn’t come in half reams. Anyways, how many sheets did you use for your tissue pompoms above?? I want to achieve that same fluffiness in the ones I’m going to make.. Congratulations to your daughter!! You must be very proud!:)

Thank You Soooo much for your tips!!! I am throwing a shower “today!” Yikes, yes, today! The good news is that I’ve completed all of the tissue poms but when the guys hung them up in the hall last night (and they did it just as I asked them to) I just wasn’t happy with the results. I thought it would look best it would look best if we hung them in clusters with the heights varying. However, what they ended up pinning them to were the vents so the clusters sorta got lost. This morning I’ve grabbed a crew and we are going to take your advice and use the push pin idea and then we can hang them wherever we want. Even though they are technically an easy, cheap DIY project — I feel I spent too much time for them to go unnoticed! Thanks again for the advice! I feel rejuvenated and ready to go for another swing at them!!!

Welcome!

My name is Hildie. I'm smart, I'm sassy, I'm sarcastic. Sometimes I'm nice, too. I'm a mom of six and wife of one.

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Mormon Glossary

Since I'm Mormon and church stuff comes up frequently, I thought I would provide a little glossary for terms you may not know:
First of all church is three hours long on Sunday. Whew! It's divided into three meetings:

Sacrament Meeting-the main church meeting, like Mass. The speakers are almost always members of the congregation. Anyone over the age of 12 can be asked to speak.

Sunday School-divided up by age (adults all go together) about 45 min long.

Relief Society-women's meeting, about 45 min.(the kids go to Primary, Men go to Priesthood meeting, teenage girls go to Young Womens). I'm the President of this group of women.

Celestial Kingdom-Heaven

Bishop-the leader of the congregation

Visiting teachers-all Mormon women are given a partner and assigned 2-4 women that they visit, call, give baked goods to every month.

Ward-the local congregation. It's all arranged geographically, so where you live determines where (and when) you go to church.